Which do you prefer?
- Thread starter Triumph1300
- Start date
-
Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.
You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
They are both equally valid and are used interchangeably within the New Testament. It would appear that when the power of the Spirit is in view, the term Holy Ghost is used.
Helen
Well-Known Member
- Oct 22, 2011
- 15,476
- 21,157
- 113
- Faith
- Christian
- Country
- Canada
For some reason I always use 'Holy Spirit' maybe because 'way back when' our old first pastor used it...so it just "stuck" for the last 50+ years
When I was a youngster they always said 'Holy Ghost'. But the church I belonged to after I was saved always said 'Holy Spirit' which I prefer as these days 'ghost' sounds more sinister.
CharismaticLady
Well-Known Member
Holy Spirit. A ghost has no real power. The living Spirit does.
Last edited:
Holy Spirit.
I had learned "ghosts" were the disembodied remains from people when they died, so I could never think of the Holy Spirit as a "ghost".
I find myself betwixt and between. In English the difference between the two as noted in other responses here already can give a person a wrong impression. In my early days in a Pentecostal church Holy Ghost was almost always used and it occurs frequently in the KJV [but so does Holy Spirit] which was the first Bible I ever read and continues to be my English reading and studying Bible... so that I favored that one.
I remember on forums, perhaps even this one, encountering people who were absolutely opposed the ghost and insisted on the spirit. I cannot see the sense to that so long as we communicate what we really mean and understand what God means. In the KJV both are used in places. English with many words from Romance languages as well as from Germanic languages may be the culprit for us.
In Spanish [a Romance language] there is no Germanic word used. It is simply and always "Espíritu Santo" [Holy Spirit]. In German [a Germanic language] there is no Romance or Latin word used. It is simply and always "Heiligen Geist" [Holy Ghost].
So let us give all the blame and/or credit to the English who readily use both the Latin and Germanic words. Now let us be slow to blame those who are members of this forum as they may take it personal...LOL
Now I use both, sometimes preferring one rather than the other when it might help the listener/reader to better understand.
During the Reformation "ghost" meant "spirit" and even Luther translated the name of the Holy Spirit as "Heiligen Geistes" (Dutch Heiligen Geestes), the German equivalent of Holy Ghost. And since that term is present in the KJV and even the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, no one can rightly object to it. However the modern versions have elected to use "Spirit" and that's fine.
I prefer Holy Spirit.....I think it is because everything relevant to being born again says spirit....born again of spirit....worship Hin in spirit and in truth.....follow after the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh....etc etc.
I don't think I have ever liked using ghost
either or both the same did you go over the fence or did you cross it
Waiting on him
Well-Known Member
This is interesting John, on my mothers side of the family the last name is Heilig, I had once heard from a woman fluent in German it meant Holy.
Yes, the name of the Bible is commonly rendered in two ways in German. One is Die Bibel which is a Romance/Latin usage in German, which originally meant "The Books" . The other is the original Germanic usage, Die Heilige Schrift, which means the "The Holy Writing".
Consider also that in Spanish, a Latin/Romance language the word for library is Biblioteca, while in German it is Bibliothek . I only delved a little into the historical study of languages in school but from what I remember both Romance Languages [Spanish, French, Romanian, etc.] and Germanic Languages [German, Dutch, English, etc.] came from what are called Indo European Languages. This common background is one reason there many similarities even in languages as far apart as German and Spanish. English being basically a Germanic language has a very large number of words which came from the Romance languages. One example is the Holy Spirit versus the Germanic Holy Ghost.
Waiting on him
Well-Known Member
Yes, I have the German version in one of my piano books under the title, Stille Nacht.
Similar threads
